Yemen's opposition has stood firm in its demand that President Ali Abdullah Saleh must go as hundreds of thousands of people again protested demanding his ouster and amid reports of casualties.
Talking to reporters after a joint meeting in Riyadh of Yemen's opposition with ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Sultan al-Atwani of the Unionist Nasserist Party said "we demand the abdication" of Saleh.
"We favour the Gulf initiative... but we reject the paragraph in the final communique of the April 10 GCC foreign ministers' meeting proposing a transfer of presidential powers, we demand the abdication" of the president, he said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
On April 10 the GCC Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -appealed to Saleh to "announce the transfer of his powers to the vice president," Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
It also called for the formation in Yemen of "a government of national unity led by the opposition" which would be responsible for "establishing a constitution and organising elections."
A statement issued after Sunday's meeting in the Saudi capital said the GCC would have discussions with the Yemeni government in Sanaa, but did not specify a date for talks.
Earlier, security forces deployed in force in Sanaa with hundreds of thousands of men and women protesting against Saleh's call for an end to men and women demonstrating together against the regime and calling for his ouster.
Clashes soon erupted, with security forces opening fire and shooting tear gas grenades at protesters.
They also used water cannon to disperse demonstrators as police cars carried away many wounded protesters, witnesses told AFP.
An AFP video reporter at a Sanaa hospital said: "A medical source in the hospital has just told me that there are 1,000 suffocation cases because of tear gas and 30 injured by live rounds."
Demonstrators also took to the streets in the cities of Taez and Ibb, south of Sanaa, and the Red Sea city of Al-Hudaydah, the organisers said.
"We want to overthrow the regime and to bring the assailant to justice," read their banners.
The demonstrations came ahead of the meeting in Riyadh between foreign ministers of the oil-rich Gulf Arab monarchies and the delegation from poverty-striken Yemen.
The delegation, led by Mohammed Salem Bassandawa, himself a former foreign minister, and Yassin Saeed Noman, head of the opposition Common Forum, were in the Saudi capital seeking details on the GCC plan for Saleh's departure.
Atwani, Abdelwahab al-Ansi of the Islamist Al-Islah party and Hassan Zaid of Al-Haq Zaidi party were also among the Yemeni delegation.
The GCC meeting was its third in two weeks on Yemen, Saudi state news agency SPA said.
The Common Forum, an alliance of Yemen's parliamentary opposition, has already made the veteran strongman's departure a prerequisite for any political settlement, and the GCC's bid to resolve the crisis calls for him to hand over power to his deputy.
Saleh's office has said in response to the GCC mediation bid that he has "no reservation about transferring power peacefully and smoothly within the framework of the constitution."
But on Friday, Saleh stood defiant as the elected president of the impoverished country when his supporters massed near the presidential palace.
"These popular masses, these millions, in this square have come to say 'yes' to constitutional legitimacy," Saleh told a crowd of tens of thousands.
More than 125 people are estimated to have been killed since protests calling for Saleh's ouster erupted in late January, inspired by uprisings which toppled long-time rulers in Tunisia and Egypt.
